Flag carrier Finnair has reclaimed the title of leading European airline to Japan this summer. The oneworld alliance member has released its new summer schedule, which now offers customers 25 weekly flights between its home hub Helsinki, and Japan - more than any other European carrier. The milestone marks the first time Finnair has held the title since before the pandemic. Finnair has been serving Japan for 40 years. It will offer flights to four destinations this summer: Tokyo-Haneda, Tokyo-Narita, Osaka and Nagoya. Alongside daily flights to both Tokyo-Haneda and Tokyo-Narita, Finnair has increased flights from Helsinki to Osaka to daily service, up from five weekly flights last summer. These flights will support Osaka’s hosting of World Expo 2025. The airline’s newest long-haul route to Nagoya - the only direct flight between Europe and the city - is doubling from twice per week last summer to four times weekly. Anssi Partanen, Finnair Market Director Europe, said: “For over 40 years, we have connected Europe with Japan, so we are proud to now offer 25 weekly flights this summer.” “From driving tourism to deepening business ties, our routes to Japan have always been extremely popular, and they remain a key part of Finnair’s DNA.” Alongside flights to Japan, Finnair also offers UK travellers connections to a number of leading destinations in Asia, including Bangkok, Delhi, Doha, Hong Kong, Phuket, Seoul, Shanghai and Singapore. All services have been timed to allow for easy connections from top UK airports, London Heathrow, Manchester, Edinburgh and Irish capital Dublin.

Finnair has expanded its codeshare with oneworld alliance member, British Airways, as the Finnish airline continues to expand its reach in the UK The airline is also targeting new customers in the Channel Islands and Gibraltar. The expanded agreement will see Finnair add its code to an additional seven of British Airways’ domestic routes. This enables customers to benefit from increased connectivity when travelling to Finland and beyond. With immediate effect, Finnair will add its code to British Airways flights between London Heathrow and Aberdeen, Belfast City, Gibraltar, Inverness, Jersey, Manchester and Newcastle. The move will enable customers to book these services directly via Finnair. It allows travellers to fly from their chosen regional airport with British Airways, before connecting onto Finnair flights via Heathrow Airport. UK travelers can then connect onto Finnair’s services to Lapland, the Nordics, and the Baltics, as well as onwards to the Far-East, including Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Singapore and Seoul. Anssi Partanen, Finnair Market Director Europe, said: “Over the past few years, we have seen a growing demand for our flights to Helsinki and beyond from destinations across not only the UK, but also the Channel Islands and Gibraltar.” “Therefore, we are extremely excited to be expanding our codeshare with British Airways, to ensure customers travelling from across the country can enjoy seamless connectivity.” It comes after Finnair launched its new expanded schedule from the UK in late 2024, adding 50% more flights between London Heathrow and Helsinki. Finnair will now offer customers six daily flights from Heathrow, double daily flights from Manchester and up to seven weekly flights from Edinburgh to the Finnish capital.

Finnair is continuing to grow its global presence, adding extra long-haul flights from its Helsinki hub to Asia next summer. In 2025, flights to Asia will be at their highest levels since 2019. From 30 March 2025, the journey to Japan will be easier than ever, as Finnair increases flights from Helsinki to Osaka up to daily, an increase from five weekly flights this summer. Osaka is gearing up to host World Expo 2025. The airline's newest long-haul route to Nagoya, relaunched this summer, will also benefit from extra flights, with services doubling from twice per week this summer to four times weekly. These increases come as Finnair prepares to operate daily flights to both Tokyo-Haneda and Tokyo-Narita airports next summer, giving customers the choice of 25 weekly flights between Europe and Japan. Flights to China are also set to receive a boost, with the Nordic carrier's Helsinki to Shanghai service set to increase to four times weekly, up from three last summer. Next summer's expansion will also see Finnair increase its transatlantic offering, with two thirds of the airline's North American destinations set to receive extra flights. It means the airline will boast its largest ever US schedule from Helsinki in 2025. Direct flights to Dallas, the home of oneworld partner American Airlines, have continued to rise in popularity since the route's launch in 2022. In summer 2025, Finnair will now offer up to 11 weekly flights to Texas, giving customers the choice of double daily flights each Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday - an 83% increase on this summer's six weekly flights. Finnair's popular route to Los Angeles will increase to five times per week, up from three times per week in summer 2024. Chicago will also benefit from up to daily flights next summer. 

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Finnair just celebrated a milestone 70 years of London flights from Helsinki. The Nordic airline’s inaugural flight departed Helsinki on 1 September 1954, flying to Copenhagen and on to Dusseldorf, before finally arriving at the London Airport - now known as Heathrow. It took a total of eight hours, compared to just three hours today. Finnair’s first London flight was operated by a Convair 340/440 Metropolitan, capable of carrying 44 passengers. Today, Helsinki to London flights remain integral to Finnair’s network, with the airline having just announced a 50% increase in flights, starting from 27 October 2024. Finnair will now offer UK travellers six daily London flights. The Helsinki to London route is operated by its Airbus fleet, including widebody A350s and A330s featuring lie-flat Business Class seats. To mark the anniversary, customers travelling between Heathrow and Helsinki on Monday were treated to gifts, including traditional liquorice allsorts - one of the most well-known sweets in Finland. Customers were also treated to live music from the ‘Finnair Singers’, the airline’s employee choir, which was founded in 1949. Anssi Partanen, Finnair Market Director Europe, said: “We are incredibly proud to be celebrating 70 years since our first London flight, and it is great to see how much the route has evolved since 1954.” “London has always been an important city for Finnair, and for our customers.” 

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Flag carrier Finnair will ramp up London Heathrow flights to and from Helsinki this winter. From 27 October 2024, Finnair will add two extra daily flights on the Heathrow to Helsinki route. This marks a 50% increase in capacity between London and Helsinki. The route is set to run up to six times per day in each direction, up from four daily London Heathrow flights this summer. The two new daily flights will continue throughout summer 2025. The new ex-London Heathrow flights are timed to give increased choice and flexibility during the peak morning and evening travel periods, ideal for business travelers. Finnair's fleet of Airbus A320s and A321s will operate on the route. Anssi Partanen, Finnair's market director in the UK, said: "We are excited to boost capacity between London and Helsinki, deepening ties between the UK and Finland.” "London has always been an important city for Finnair, ahead of the 70th anniversary of the London-Helsinki route in September.” Return flights from London to Helsinki start from £174 in Economy Class and £545 in Business, including taxes and charges.   

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Finnair has launched a flash sale for UK customers planning Asia flights. The sale offers through fares from London and Manchester to Hong Kong and Singapore. It has round trip Asia flights for under £500 on Finnair connecting services. Discounted airfares to Hong Kong are £488 and priced at £498 to Singapore. The sale will run until 1 July, for specific flights between 1 September and 30 November 2024. The two Asia cities are served daily from Helsinki. The special promotion follows the completion of Finnair's new €200 million long-haul cabin renewal. The Finnish flag carrier was also named Best Airline in Northern Europe for a 14th consecutive year at the Skytrax 2024 awards earlier this week. 

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Finnair has returned to Nagoya, Japan for the first time since the pandemic. This week’s Nagoya flight marks the return of direct connections with Europe. Finnair is currently the only European carrier flying direct to the city. Flights will initially operate twice per week on Thursday or Sunday from Helsinki. Return flights to Helsinki operate each Monday and Friday. The newly resumed route joins the Nordic carrier's existing flights from Helsinki to Osaka, Tokyo-Haneda and Tokyo-Narita. Flights have been timed to allow for easy connections from UK airports, London Heathrow, Manchester, Edinburgh and the Irish capital Dublin. 

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Finnair has added extra Asia flights to its winter network. From December 2024, the Finland flag carrier will increase its Helsinki to Phuket flights to six times per week, an increase from four times per week in winter 2023. The Phuket flights will give customers direct access to one of Thailand's most popular beach destinations, a highly popular winter sun hotspot. Phuket flights will operate Monday-Wednesday and Friday-Sunday from Helsinki to Phuket, with return flights on Monday-Thursday and Saturday-Sunday. UK travelers looking for a winter escape can book return flights from London to Phuket from £825 return in Economy, including taxes and charges. Finnair also operates double daily flights from Helsinki to Thai capital Bangkok. All flights have been specifically timed to allow for easy connections from UK airports, London Heathrow, Manchester, Edinburgh and Irish capital Dublin. 

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Finnair Plus loyalty members can now use Avios as their new airline loyalty currency. The move comes following a partnership with IAG Loyalty to adopt Avios - the loyalty currency used by Finnair's oneworld partners' airline loyalty programs. These include British Airways Executive Club, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, and Iberia Plus. Launched in 1992, the Finnair Plus loyalty program has over four million members worldwide. The enhanced spend-based program gives members more opportunities to earn extra rewards like upgrade benefits, when reaching certain point limits within their existing tier. They will get increased collect and use opportunities from later in spring. As part of the investment, Finnair has also increased the number of award seats on flights. The airline now guarantees at least four award seats on Finnair flights within Europe and eight on Finnair long-haul flights. Finnair Plus members can also benefit from complimentary internet access for messaging on Finnair's short-haul European flights operated with the narrow-body Airbus fleet, regardless of their tier status. This benefit has already been in place since November 2023, and is already proving popular with Finnair Plus members. Ole Orvér, Finnair's CCO, said: "Adopting Avios as our new loyalty currency will bring great new benefits to our four million Finnair Plus members worldwide.” "We are always looking for new ways to enhance the customer proposition to earn the loyalty of Finnair's most loyal customers." Later this spring, customers will also have the opportunity to transfer Avios between Finnair Plus and British Airways Executive Club accounts with a 1:1 ratio. This gives access to British Airways Executive Club's network of rewards and partnerships, such as travel experiences and online shopping. The Finnair Plus loyalty program is now spend-based, rather than by the number of flights flown by its members. The new loyalty currency, Avios, is collected, and members are able to move from one tier to another based on the money spent on flights and travel extras. Tier limits have been revised to reflect the switch to Avios and the new spend-based earn of tier points. 

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Finnair revealed it will cancel up to 550 flights due to political strike action against the Finnish Government later this week. The industrial action will take place on February 1–2, 2024 and will severely impact Helsinki Airport’s operations, the airline says. Several unions in Finland are taking part. Finnair has approximately 280 flights per day and the vast majority will be cancelled. The airline expects to operate just a handful of flights over these two days. It will directly contact customers who are booked on flights that will operate. Finnair will implement flight cancellations one flight at a time, starting from today with customers being offered alternative routings. Customers on long-haul flights with onward connections from Helsinki on February 1–2 will be routed directly to their destinations, as there are no connections from Helsinki during the strike. The strike may also affect ground services, such as baggage handling and ​inflight services and catering. The flights that ​are scheduled to operate​ may be delayed. "From January 30 onwards we start rerouting customers, using also other airlines’ flights,” said Jari Paajanen, VP, Finnair Operations Control Center. Due to the large number of cancelled flights and customers, processing the cancellations and rerouting customers will takes approximately two days, it says. "We will do our very best to offer a suitable flight option to as many customers as possible, but the number of alternative flights is limited," Paajanen added.     

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Finnair is adding flights to some of the most popular Nordic holiday destinations for the peak summer season. Finnair says it is in response to demand from both European and Asian travellers The additional flights will operate from the end of June to August. Finnair restores flights to Bodø, which is located right above the Arctic Circle in Northern Norway with five flights per week between June 17 and August 2. Finnair is also adding flights to perennial Nordic holiday favourite Trondheim in Norway. There will be 10 weekly Trondheim flights from June to the end of August. Both of these destinations unlock opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts and nature lovers. Flights to Bodø and Trondheim connect easily to Finnair’s international network. Finnair also adds flights to Kuusamo, Ivalo and Kittilä in Northern Finland, as Finnish Lapland increasingly becomes a year-round destination with growing numbers visiting in the summer season. Finnair is the only airline serving the Finnish Lapland year-round. Finnair also flies to the medieval city of Visby in Gotland, Sweden, from the end of June through to early August. It offers five weekly flights. 

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Finnair has released its expanded 2024 network, adding four new routes. From 30 May 2024, it restarts Nagoya flights, with a twice-weekly connection from Helsinki. Nagoya is Japan's fourth largest city. The route was previously suspended in 2020 due to the pandemic. Finnair's Nagoya flights add to the airline's existing Japan services to Osaka, Tokyo-Haneda and Tokyo-Narita. Ole Orvér, Finnair Chief Commercial Officer, said: "We are delighted to resume our connection to Nagoya. In the summer season 2024, we'll have a total of twenty weekly frequencies to Japan.” The Nordic airline is also adding flights to its winter 2024 flying programme, to meet demand for European winter sun and snow holidays. During winter there will be more UK flights to Manchester, Edinburgh and to Dublin. From October 2024, there will be double daily flights direct from Manchester, up from nine this winter, and 29 from London Heathrow. From Edinburgh, there will be two more weekly flights to Helsinki. Dublin to Helsinki flights increase from eight to 10 a week during winter 2024. From October 2024, Finnair will also launch new twice-weekly flights from Helsinki to Faro, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.